"Lend me your eyes, I can change what you see - but your soul you must keep totally free."

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

And So It Begins...

I cannot tell you with what intentions I began this blog, but thanks to iTunes shuffle I can tell you the directions in which it is going. A friend of mine shared an excellent quote with me while on the plane to England, which I cannot quote word for word, but this is the jest of it: “When we feel as though life is short, its often because we’re spending most of our time wasting it.”

This blog is going to serve two purposes.

1)Keep me writing consistently. I have recently decided to pursue a minor in creative writing and wish to begin (again) writing on a regular basis. I completed an intro course in the spring that required me to write every day, which made me realize how much I missed doing so. I am currently unsure of whether or not that will happen, but I’d like to think that my desire to keep this going would be drive enough to write consistently.

2)In an effort to avoid shortening my life by wasting the time I’ve been given, I’m hoping to take the moments that would be otherwise overlooked, and appreciate them. This is where the iTunes shuffle makes its comeback. While creating this blog, “Awake My Soul” by Mumford and Sons began playing... And the thought hit me: That’s exactly what this is going to be about.

If you are unfamiliar with the song, I invite you to have a listen, if you wish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD41MbiJKcU

Please know that this is not some “Holier than thou” effort to force my opinions on anyone else, but rather, an effort to be shamelessly vulnerable to the world around me. Eyes wide open; I don’t want to miss a thing. I have spent/wasted way too many years of my nearly twenty-one years of living being silenced, being swayed, and sugarcoating my thoughts and feelings on any given topic/situation, to stay quiet about things that are important anymore.

“Our lives begin to end the moment we become silent about the things that matter.”

-MLK Jr.

Don’t get me wrong. This is in no way, shape or form an “all about cake, rainbows, and the joys of being alive” blog. But rather an opportunity to reflect on different events, circumstances, relationships, and experiences with the hopes of learning something deeper than what is merely on the surface. You are more than welcome to embark on this journey with me, if you so choose. You may agree, you may disagree. You may enjoy, you may not. You may learn from some of my experiences, I hope you’ll learn from my mistakes, but you may not. Either way, it’s okay… because I’m not doing this for you… I’m doing this for me.

The only things in life worth regretting are the risks you didn’t take, so here goes nothing…